One aspect of supplying insurance coverage in return for the payment of insurance policy premiums is the advantageous potential of staying ahead of the'earned premium curve. In general, this refers to collecting payments for an insurance policy prior to incurring the risk associated with supplying the insurance coverage. For example, if an insurance policy is effective for sixth months, from July through December, then to stay ahead of the earned premium curve an insurance company might collect payments on the 20th of each month, starting in June and ending in November. Conversely, collecting payments on the 20th of each month, starting in July and ending in December, would place a company behind the earned premium curve, because risk would be carried each month prior to the customer's payment of the premium.
When a customer first purchases an insurance policy, he or she may be given a grace period prior to receiving the first bill. Thus, at the time of the first bill, the insurance company is behind the earned premium curve, and must generally find a way to subsequently shift its position to get ahead of the earned premium curve while still providing good customer service and not confusing the customer or otherwise giving the customer the impression that he is being overcharged.
To shift position and get ahead of the earned premium curve, insurance companies may conduct either a “short bill” or a “double bill” procedure during the first insurance policy coverage period. In a “short bill” approach, the number of payments during the coverage period are reduced, while the amount of such payments is increased. For example, on a six-month policy, the customer may be asked to make five larger payments, starting during the first month of the policy and ending in the second to last month, instead of six smaller payments (starting during the first month and ending in the last month). By the time the customer pays the last of the five payments, the insurance company has received full payment for the policy and is ahead of the curve. If the policy is renewed, the customer can be billed starting before the next coverage period, and can switch to a six payment billing arrangement.
In a “double bill” arrangement, the customer may be billed twice during one of the billing cycles. The customer thus pays, for example, six monthly payments on a six month policy, however during one of the months the customer is asked to make two of the six payments so that by the end of the policy, the insurance company is ahead of the earned premium curve. Once again, by the time the customer pays the last of the payments, the insurance company has received full payment for the policy and is ahead of the curve. If the policy is renewed, the customer can be billed starting before the next coverage period, and need not be doubled billed again.
Both of the above solutions are adequate, but come at the cost of possible misunderstandings with insurance company customers. Such misunderstandings present a cost in terms of lost customers and increased customer service costs. The need to double bill or short bill should thus be minimized to the extent possible.
Meanwhile, customers increasingly ask for and expect flexibility in terms of when a recurring payment will be withdrawn from a customer bank account. Many customers receive bi-weekly or monthly paychecks from work or other funding sources, and like to have automatic withdrawals made at a time when they can be sure there will be adequate funds in their account. However, it will be appreciated from the above that changing a date of automatic withdrawal is not as straightforward as it may seem. In addition to the need to stay ahead of an earned premium curve, automatic withdrawals from bank accounts are regulated and must be done in accordance with applicable rules and procedures. For example, the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) presently provides a 10 day mandatory notice period. A variety of additional factors introduce complexity to the proposition of allowing customers flexibility in setting their own automatic withdrawal dates. For example, a large insurance company may prefer to spread withdrawals more or less evenly, rather than have a large number of withdrawals on a particular day of the month.
In consideration of the above problems in the industry, it is desirable to provide systems and methods for supporting extended pay date options on an insurance policy, allowing customers flexibility in selecting their own pay dates without violating automatic withdrawal notice requirements, falling behind an earned premium curve, or incurring a variety of other difficulties that may result from supplying customers with such flexibility.